''Sally Can't Dance'' is the fourth solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American musician

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

, released in August 1974 by RCA Records. Steve Katz and Reed produced the album. It remains Reed's highest-charting album in the United States, having peaked at #10 during a 14-week stay on the '' Billboard 200'' album chart in October 1974. It is also the first solo Lou Reed album not to feature any songs originally recorded by Reed's earlier band, the Velvet Underground, as well as the first of Reed's solo studio albums to be recorded in the United States (Reed's previous three albums were all recorded in the United Kingdom). The album art was designed by noted

Fillmore Fillmore may refer to: Places Canada * Fillmore, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Fillmore No. 96, Saskatchewan United States * Fillmore, California * Fillmore District, San Francisco, California * Fillmore, Louisiana * Fillmore, Illino ...

and Broadway poster artist David Edward Byrd and was one of the few album covers he ever designed.

Background

Aside from the title song, ''Sally Can't Dance'' includes "N.Y. Stars" (in which Reed pokes fun at "fourth-rate imitators" who tried to impress him by copying his style), "Kill Your Sons" (a reflection of his stay in a psychiatric hospital at his parents' insistence, during his teen years), and "Billy," about the fate of a schoolmate with more "normal" ambitions than he'd had. The latter track reunited Reed with erstwhile Velvet Underground bandmate Doug Yule, playing bass guitar. According to an interview with Yule, the call from Reed was "out of the blue", because Reed thought Yule's bass playing style would work well on the song "Billy", and Yule agreed to play on the song saying he "liked it" and that he had enjoyed the session. More tracks featuring Yule have emerged on a CD re-issue. The album's tour featured Danny Weis, on guitar; Michael Fonfara, on keyboards; Prakash John, on bass and Pentti "Whitey" Glan, on drums on the European leg.

Eric "Mouse" Johnson The Soul Searchers were an important part of Canadian soul music history. The group contained notable artists such as Diane Brooks, Eric Mercury, William "Smitty" Smith, Steve Kennedy (musician), Steve Kennedy and Eric "Mouse" Johnson. At tim ...

played drums on the Australian and U.S. sections. The sound engineer for all the live shows was Robin Mayhew, who had previously worked with David Bowie during his '' Ziggy Stardust'' period. The following year, Reed contacted Doug Yule again to play guitar on his 1975 world tour. While the record was a hit and elevated Reed's status as a star, he reportedly was disappointed in its production (in which he took a largely passive role) and the treatment of the songs. Reed remarked, "It seems like the less I'm involved with a record, the bigger a hit it becomes. If I weren't on the record at all next time around, it might go to Number One." Following the relative critical successes of '' Transformer'', '' Berlin'' and '' Rock 'n' Roll Animal'', ''Sally Can't Dance'' received largely negative reviews. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said of the title song "a bluesy narrative type of vocal singing has made Reed as distinctive a performer as any" that has "the same hit feel" as "

Take a Walk on the Wild Side "Walk on the Wild Side" is a song by Lou Reed from his second solo album, ''Transformer'' (1972). It was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson and released as a double A-side with " Perfect Day". Known as a counterculture anthem, the song recei ...

." In 1974, however, RCA insisted on a rapid follow-up album while Reed's career appeared to be peaking. Tiring of the pressure put on him, and with his contract requiring RCA to release whatever record he gave them, Reed handed over the master tape of '' Metal Machine Music''—an hour of

feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...

and noise, with no chance of becoming a hit.

Track listing

All tracks are written by

. Side one # "Ride Sally Ride" – 4:06 # "Animal Language" – 3:05 # "Baby Face" – 5:06 # "N.Y. Stars" – 4:02 Side two # "Kill Your Sons" – 3:40 # "Ennui" – 3:43 # "Sally Can't Dance" – 4:12 # "Billy" – 5:10 Bonus tracks # "Good Taste" – 3:30 # "Sally Can't Dance" (single version) – 2:56

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''Sally Can't Dance'' liner notes. Musicians *

– vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

on "Billy" * Danny Weis – guitar, tambourine, backing vocals, horn arrangement * Paul Fleisher – saxophone on "Billy" * David Taylor, Lou Marini, Trevor Koehler,

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

, Alan Rubin, Alex Foster, Lew Soloff – horns * Steve Katz –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

, horn arrangement * Michael Fonfara – piano, keyboards,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

on "Ennui" * Prakash John – bass guitar, backing vocals * Doug Yule – bass guitar on "Billy" * Ritchie Dharma –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

on "Kill Your Sons" and "Ennui" * Pentti "Whitey" Glan – drums * Doug Bartenfeld – guitar * Michael Wendroff – backing vocals * Joanne Vent – backing vocals * Lew Soloff and Martin Sheller - horn arrangements Production and artwork * Steve Katz –

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

* Lou Reed – producer * Mike Stone – recording engineer * Ralph Moss – remix engineer * Dennis Katz – cover concept * Acy Lehman –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* David Edward Byrd – cover art * Mick Rock – photography

Charts

References

External links